This is a unique terracotta statuette by the Italian caricaturist, Carlo Pellegrini. In 1871, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lowe proposed a tax of one half-penny on a box of matches. London matchmakers took to the streets and he was forced to withdraw the measure. He is shown standing on a matchbox, incised with the slogan which he coined 'Ex luce lucellum': 'out of light a little gain'.